One Piece: Beating the Beast
by Black' Victor Cachat
Summary: Spoilers for chapter 819. The war with Kaido is over, Wano Kingdom is free, but what is Luffy to do now? One-Shot
Talking: "Gimme meat!"

Thinking: " _Are they going to give me meat yet?_ " _  
_-0-

I do not own One Piece

-0-

 **Spoilers: this contains information from chapter 819**

-0-

Beating the Beast

-0-

The face-off continued between the marines on the shore and the inhabitants of Wano Kingdom. Their newly appointed Shogun, Kozuki Momonosuke, was very young yet adamant that the Navy's presence was unwarranted. Senior officers in turn yelled at him and his samurai to stand aside so that they could capture the pirates of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet that were visibly scattered amongst them, and so that they could liberate the country.

"Your offer is appreciated, yet unnecessary. These are not pirates, but valued allies, who have been fighting all this time against the Beasts pirates," Momo coldly corrected them, steeling himself with memories of the debt that he owed his friends, and the example Luffy had shown him. He would not fail to support them here. "As we speak, our friend and ally, Straw Hat Luffy, is finishing his fight against Kaido himself, returning freedom to the people of Wano."

The marines scoffed at that, "You mustn't believe the lies of pirates!"

"Only Justice can keep you safe!"

"They'll conquer your country like Kaido did, and plunder your wealth."

"Like Hell we are!" Nami yelled as she stepped forward, one hand holding shut a bloody cut on her arm from fighting a samurai who had been a sympathiser of the previous, unlamented, shogun. "Have you seen this place!? What these people've already gone through!?" as she swept her arm to gesture at the still burning cities of the Wano Kingdom that were in sight.

"So you don't want anything?" one daimyo allied with Momonosuke asked in confusion. "Aren't you pirates?"

"Food for Luffy when he wakes up after beating Kaido, and medical supplies," Nami listed off, "and that's it. We're not going to take from our friends!" The assembled samurai looked on in admiration at the woman's fiery demeanor (and choice of dress), seeing the truth in her eyes, and they found themselves straightening their stances in defiance as they faced down the dogs of the World Government. Or rather, the vultures, given how their nation was now so conveniently weakened. Some of the allied pirates were put out, but given what the Straw Hats had accomplished today, they felt it was best not to argue, especially since the majority were in agreement with the Cat-Burglar.

" _Of course_ ," Nami admitted to herself, " _I'll still be asking Momo to let me through his treasury! Better give some to the Fleet too. Oh well, I guess they earned it_."

"Strange," said one man, his voice cutting through all of the other noise as everyone turned towards the towering blind man. "I smell volcanic ash."

A massive figure flew through the air to crash into the ground in the middle of the standoff, reeking of burnt flesh and what Admiral Fujitora's sensitive nose had already smelt. "Who is it," he asked.

"K-K-Kaido!" a marine gasped out.

Fujitora frowned reaching out with his senses and Haki and could tell that if was indeed one of the four Emperors in front of him, then the man was very badly hurt and unmoving. "I see. And Straw Hat is here. Although I'm still curious about the smell."

"Eh, Luffy's fight with him set off a volcano—" Zoro began as if it were an everyday occurrence.

"By trying to bury Kaido under a sacred mountain," a samurai in the crowd complained. Quietly.

"So Luffy plugged up the eruption using Kaido's indestructible body. Well," Zoro corrected himself as he took in the broken figure, clearly sporting wounds from _after_ he had dragged himself out of the cooled magma, "supposedly indestructible."

"I'm still pretty sure volcanoes don't work like that," Usopp muttered, before noticing that people were staring at him and quickly reapplied his confident 'God' Usopp stance.

Then everyone went silent again as Luffy appeared behind them, walking forward until he was level with Kaido and started dragging the defeated man forwards by his remaining horn until he was only a few meters away from the admiral. "Old Man," Luffy said in greeting. "Here, your powers should help you safely transport him," and then he let go of Kaido and just turned around to limp back to where he had come from.

"Gaah! He moved! He's still alive!" Usopp yelled as the Emperor's hand tightened into a fist and he opened his eyes to glare at Luffy's back.

"No!" Kaido gasped out, "What are you doing!? Kill me! Do it! Don't leave me stuck in this dull, empty world!"

"No," Luffy simply said as he continued to move away from the Emperor and the marines.

"I'll break free! I've done it before! And I'll come back here and kill all the people here."

"If you come back I'll just beat you up again," and more than one pirate and samurai looking at him shivered at the coldness in his voice and eyes, never looking back.

Amongst the marines, they felt themselves shifting in horror at the monster before them, sweat dripping down their faces as they interpreted this as an act of cruelty as Straw Hat utterly dismissed the man he had crushed. A pirate who held no fear for even the Emperors. For the Navy or their Admiral. Truly the son of the 'Revolutionary' Dragon.

"GRAAAH! Wait! Then I'll go to Fishman Island! I know your secret there!"

"Eh?" and now Luffy glanced back.

"Yes," Kaido sneered. "A certain rookie was causing trouble for me, 'Wet Haired' Caribou I believe he was called. He tried to buy his life with a conversation he'd heard between your 'Demon Child' and the Fishman king, and he said—"

"LUFFY! KILL HIM NOW!" a horrified Robin screamed, fearing for Princess Shirahoshi and all of Fishman Island. The world.

The giant black fist smashed down on Kaido's head just before Zoro's black blades went for the jugular, while Sanji's kicks started to roast him from inside out.

Again and again they struck, acting not out of hate or fear of the man, but in iron trust of Robin's judgment. She knew how Luffy felt about killing, about life, and had never questioned her captain's decisions like she had just done. If Robin felt that Kaido should be kept from talking, he would be kept from talking. They would shoulder the consequences of this later.

"It's done," Luffy gasped, collapsing into Zoro's arms as the blood loss finally hit him, the Pirate Hunter's single eye never leaving the marines while keeping one sword tight between his teeth, knowing that his Captain was too vulnerable. By his side their friends and allies stepped forward, while Luffy fought to stay conscious, hearing Zoro's heart hammering beside his ear, and knew that Zoro was also badly injured. Luffy's gaze never left the marines, unable to move the rest of his body, and knew that he was still too weak. Unable to protect everyone if the Navy chose to attack now.

Admiral Fujitora pondered his options, and re-evaluated his opinion of Straw Hat. " _Now that I think about it, I think that is the first time I've ever heard of Straw Hat ever killing anyone. What does that say about him? And Wano Kingdom has made their opinion clear, but if I back off now Akainu might cause more trouble_."

"Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Senses screaming, Fujitora spun around to face the vast presence who had _not_ been there a moment ago until announcing himself.

"Oy, Cat Viper, Dogstorm, what happened to you guys?"

The Minks in question blinked in surprise, with the later recovering a hair faster, "Nothing that we haven't taken care of, especially thanks to Straw Hat and his friends."

"Hope yah don't mind us saying, but we're kinda fond of the rascals, so we hope you're not here for any trouble. Friends shouldna fight friends," Cat Viper added, ignoring the looks he and Dogstorm were drawing from their fellow Minks.

"Well," Ben Beckman, first mate of the Red Hair Pirates and right-hand of the Emperor 'Red Hair' Shanks, "I admit I'm here to see Straw Hat Luffy, but don't worry." Then he glanced at the marines, "You boys aren't going to be causing any trouble, are you?"

"…No," the blind man simply said, and turned to hobble away as if he actually had trouble moving about.

"Admiral!" Vice-Admiral Maynard cried out.

"A great evil has been removed today, and with these many elite pirates here, we could never defeat them without causing further destruction to this already damaged country," Issho mildly remarked. "We will merely wait for them at sea. I haven't forgotten my oath to bring in Straw Hat and Law to Justice." Of course, it would be difficult to gather together a large enough fleet in time to guarantee a blockade sufficient enough to capture all of the assembled pirate ships, meaning that once again it would become a matter of chance: would the Navy be able to assemble before Straw Hat had recovered enough to be moved? It would be an interesting gamble.

Beckman slowly walked up, one hand casually resting on the rifle stuffed in his sash, pausing with an appreciative smile when nearly everyone stepped forward to stand in front of Luffy, who raised a hand, "W-wait guys. I need to hear what he's got to say."

"I'll make it quick, Anchor," Beckman said, and a concerned Nami noted that her Captain actually smiled at that name, "I'm here with a message and a question: are you a great pirate?"

"Heh," Luffy said with a sad look, "no, not yet," ignoring the shocked statements of denial from everyone who was not his crewmates. Only his crew _understood_.

Nodding, Beckman lit a cigarette, "Alright, see you later then." He turned to walk away, but paused and looked back with a fond smile, "We always look forward to the day's newspaper now, hoping to see more articles about you, and Usopp too," the sniper in question blinking as he realized the implications, "yeah, your dad recognized you in your last Wanted Poster and started tearing through our collection of articles on you guys. Take care."

And then he left.

Silence.

And then Luffy finally let himself rest, and Chopper started yelling for everyone to help him get his Captain first aid, while everyone else got to work on putting out the fires and restoring the kingdom to some semblance of order.

 **-0-0-0-**

 **Author Notes:  
Just another scenario that wormed its way out of my mind and down to my fingertips.**

 **-0-**

 **Please Review!**


End file.
